Utah Utes basketball: Difficult schedule continues with LSU

The Utah basketball team has already played No. 5-ranked Oklahoma and No. 16-ranked Gonzaga, as well as a 13-2 Cal team that just missed making the top 25 this week.

Can the Ute schedule get any tougher?

Well, up next is a 12-1 LSU team that is among the "others receiving votes" in the college basketball polls. The Utes and Tigers face off tonight at the Huntsman Center at 7 p.m.

Coach Jim Boylen vowed to play a tough non-conference schedule this year and his team has. He complimented BYU for playing No. 6-ranked Wake Forest at home this week and said he wishes more Mountain West Conference teams would play tougher non-league schedules.

Boylen said sometimes all you have to do is ask, which is what he did to arrange tonight's game against former Ute assistant coach Trent Johnson and his Tigers.

"People talk about how difficult scheduling is," Boylen said. "I was at an AAU Tournament in Houston last spring and I said, 'Hey Trent, let's get a series going,' and he said, 'Sounds good, I'll call you next week.' He called me next week and it was done."

Boylen said next year the Utes will go to Baton Rouge on Jan. 2 and he hopes that the two schools can keep playing each other in the future.

"I think it's a great series for both of us," he said.

Boylen said he got to know Johnson when he was an assistant with the Houston Rockets and Johnson was an assistant at Rice University. Johnson is familiar with the Huntsman Center, having been an assistant under Lynn Archibald for three years (1986-89) before going on to coach at Nevada and Stanford. After taking Stanford to the Sweet 16 last year, he left for LSU.

Although the Tigers are 12-1, their record is a bit deceiving. Believe or not, tonight's game will be their first road game of the year after playing 12 games at home and one at a neutral site.

Their one loss was against Texas A&M at Houston. Otherwise, all of their games have been played at the Maravich Center against the likes of Jackson State, Alcorn State, Centenary and Northwestern State. Their best win was a 64-52 victory over Washington State just after Christmas.

Still, Boylen believes his teams will have its hands full tonight.

"The things that stick out to me are their balance, their athleticism and their rebounding dominance," Boylen said. "They have a lot of guys that can get it in the hole and they rebound the ball and really make the game look easy at times."

The Tigers are outrebounding their opponents by nearly 10 boards per game — 40.3 to 30.8. They also average more than six blocked shots per game.

Marcus Thornton, a 6-4 senior guard, leads the Tigers with an 18.4 scoring average. Tasmin Mitchell (6-7 junior) and Bo Spencer (6-1 sophomore) also average in double figures at 14.5 and 12.9 points, respectively. The other two starters are 6-11 center Chris Johnson (7.7 ppg) and 6-6 guard Garrett Temple (7.3 ppg).

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